Part 4 of a story that still doesn't have a name
"Now, this story happened when Estel had first come to Rivendell. He had only been here for about 2 months and Elladan and Elrohir were spending every free minute with him."
"On this particular day they had finally managed to convince me to allow them to take him out into the grounds by themselves, without either myself, Glorfindel or Celeboril with them."
"If only I had known what a mistake that was."
*Flashback*
"Thank you Father. We will take great care of him."
"Yeah and I'll make sure Elrohir doesn't drop him again"
"You dropped him?" Elrond asked incredulously
*End flashback*
"You dropped me?" Estel asked incredulously.
*Flashback*
"No. Anyway, it was an accident."
Elladan just shook his head at his brother and picked his baby brother up before Elrond could change his mind.
As the two ran off Elrond smiled. It was wonderful having a child back in the house. Somehow he knew Estel was going to change the House of Elrond for the better.
As the twins neared the wood, they stopped and sat down, carefully placing their brother on the ground next to them. They smiled softly as Estel threw the grass in the air, laughing in delight as it rained back down on him.
Turning back to his twin, Elladan asked.
"Where should we go?"
"I don't know, ada said to stay away from the woods. We could lose Estel in a matter of seconds in there. Hm, I wonder how long it would take."
"Er, I think you're about to find out."
"What?"
While his brothers had been talking, Estel had crawled off, thrilled at the chance to escape his overprotective brothers.
*End Flashback*
"You lost me as well?" Estel couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"
"Well there was that time we left you outside during a thunderstorm."
"Oh yeah, and the time we took you fishing and you fell in the lake."
"And what about the time..."
"Excuse me, but you were supposed to be looking after me, not trying to kill me."
Everyone had begun to giggle at the outburst from the irritated ranger so it was several minutes before Elrond was able to regain his composure and continue with his story.
*Flashback*
The twins raced towards the woods, calling frantically for their human brother, heedlessly ruining all tracks of the small creature that was currently heading for Rivendell.
*End flashback*
"And you call your self's trackers"
*Flashback*
Elladan and Elrohir spent all day searching for Estel, not once thinking to ask for help or even considering the possibility that Estel hadn't actually gone into the woods.
When they finally reached the house both voices were hoarse from calling for there brother, they were exhausted from searching, and were dreading the thought of facing there father.
As they dragged themselves nearer and nearer to Lord Elrond's study they realised how hungry they were and quickly found that they preferred the thought of food to telling there father that they had lost Estel.
* End flashback*
"Wait, are you telling me that I was lost and all you could think about was eating"
"Something like that yeah"
"I can't believe you. I could have been lying dead, being eaten by a pack of wargs, and all the while you would have been stuffing your faces full of honey cakes from Beornings and..."
Estel stopped as he realised that he was now standing up and the whole hall was watching. Blushing a deep red he sat down and Elrond once more began his story, starting from where he had left off.
*Flashback*
As the entered the vast kitchens they found that it was empty, the kitchen staff having been on a break. Deciding that they could easily get some food them selves, they finally found the plates after only 20 minutes of searching.
As Elrohir picked up a large saucepan, he yelled in shock, almost dropping the pot as he did so.
"What is it?" Elladan exclaimed, rushing over to see if his brother needed help.
Upon reaching his twin he did the exact opposite to Elrohir's reaction and sighed in relief. Curled up and fast asleep was their baby brother, gently sucking his thumb.
As Elladan reached down to retrieve Estel, they heard two elves enter the kitchen. Lord Elrond and Lord Glorfindel to be exact. Crouching down, the twins tried to hide, not wanting to explain why there brother was in a saucepan, once again not doing the most obvious thing and lifting Estel out.
As they hid, they couldn't help but over hear the two elf lord's conversation.
*End Flashback*
"Although I'm sure you could have tried" Glorfindel muttered under his breath, before taking over the next part of the tale, knowing that this wasn't exactly Elrond's favourite part.
*Flashback*
"Keep looking, those cakes have to be some where." Elrond's voice was slightly muffled due to the fact that his head was stuck in a rather large cupboard.
"They had better be worth all this" Glorfindel muttered back.
"Believe me they are. Beornings are famous for there honey cakes"
"Tell me again why you can't just ask Celeboril for them."
"Er...yeah... well you see... last time we were sent the cakes I kind of er... ate them all before the dinner party we had er... ordered them for and er... Celeboril wasn't particularly please. Or the guests for that matter."
Elrond glared at his friend as he began to laugh.
"So I take it that he now hides them whenever they come."
"Yes" Elrond replied grumpily.
"Aha" he cried suddenly, his mood changing immediately,
"I've found them."
At this the twins adopted identically wicked grins and stood up, momentarily forgetting about the sleeping human.
"Naughty, naughty father. We can't have you stealing. It will be setting a dreadful example to the young ones"
As Elrohir spoke, Elladan walked over to the guilty elf lord and took the tin of honey cakes from his father.
Elrond stared at his twin sons for a second before quickly snatching the box back and leaping on to one of the kitchen tables, easily out of reach of his eldest son. Holding them high above his head he cried,
"You can't have them. There mine, all mine so ther..."
He was cut short as Elladan jumped up next to his father and tried to re- take the cakes.
"Noooooooooo" Elrond yelled before bounding away, diving from table to table, still closely followed by Elladan.
Glorfindel stared in amazement at his normally dignified friend. He couldn't help laughing as the oldest twin hurled himself at the elf lord, successful bringing him down and tried to wrestle the now rather bashed cakes from his father's tight grip.
"Give... them... to... me..." he grunted, pulling at the tin, while trying at the same time to escape his father's head lock.
He had almost got them when a pair of strong hands suddenly reached down and wrenched them from both the elves grasp.
"Explain"
Just this one question was enough to send both father and son scrambling to their feet. They stared guiltily at the floor as Celeboril's hard gaze fell on them.
"Explain" the servant and Elrond's life long friend demanded again.
"Er... well you see... I was hungry and...well..." Celeboril had never seen his lord look guilty. He almost burst out laughing but managed to control himself and settled with a glare.
"Now, can you tell me what would be the punishment if one of the elflings tried to raid the kitchen?"
"Subin da foo" was Elrond's mumbled response.
"Pardon"
"Scrubbing the floor" was the now louder answer.
"Exactly" Celeboril gave the elf lords a quick smile before handed each a mop and broom.
"Now get started."
Now was Elrond's turn to be amazed. Never in all the years that he had known him had Celeboril ever been this strict. Elrond was about to comment on this, but took one look at his servants face and began wiping.
However little it may show, Elrond knew what Celeboril's temper could be like when he was really angry, and he has had the exact same look on his face as he had now when Elrond had 'accidentally' told a certain elf maiden that his friend was in love with her.
Elrond had hid in his room for almost two weeks after running round the house several times with a certain enraged elf close behind the whole time. He shuddered at the memory.
*End flashback*
"Celeboril actually had you scrubbing the kitchen floor" Estel was now howling in laughter.
"Yes I did" a new voice made them all look up into the broadly grinning servant.
"I brought you all some honey cakes from Beo..." he was cut off as the large tin was grabbed from his hands by a certain lord, who soon disappeared under a tide of elves, knowing fully well about Elrond's craze. How could anyone not after hearing ther story so far.
When all the cakes had finally been disposed of Elrond took over from his friend and continued the story.
*Flashback*
As Elrond scrubbed moodily at the now nearly spotless floor, he stopped, suddenly realising something. Turning back to his sons who were eating over at one of the numerous tables, he said
"Pray tell what it was that brought you two to the kitchen."
"Oh, we were just hungry."
"Ah yes, but if you were only searching for food then you wouldn't have hid."
The twins didn't even have time to feel guilty as they realised that they had left Estel in the big pot.
To the astonishment of there father, the twins began searching for the saucepan, eventually coming across it only to find that once again there brother was missing.
*End flashback*
"I can't believe it. You lost me AGAIN"
*Flashback*
It was then the elf lord also realised that he had last seen his youngest son in the custody of the two very guilty looking elflings in front of him.
"Where is it" Elrond demanded.
*End flashback*
"Oh, so I was an it back then was I?"
*Flashback*
"Um, his right here ada." Elrohir reached behind him and grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be a sack of flour. He quickly wrapped his cloak around it to disguise it from his father and began edging towards the door.
"Well we've better go hadn't we Elladan? Goodbye father"
"Oh Elrohir" Elrond called as they reached the door.
"Estel seems to be leaking flour. You may want to get that fixed as I'm not sure that babies are supposed to do that."
The twins groaned silently as they left the kitchen. Well at least father knew now, and they hadn't even been told off.
"Oh yes, you can expect your punishment to night, when you have FOUND Estel."
*End Flashback*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Estel drew a neatly folded tunic from his draw and stuffed it hurriedly into his pack, yelping as he pricked a finger on the comb which seldom left the bag. As he slung the pack over his shoulder he could hear his brothers yelling to him to hurry up and Legolas politely pointing out that the woods became rather dangerous at night and he would like to have made camp before the wargs came.
Estel ignored the cheers that greeted him when he finally exited the House of Elrond and went to say goodbye to his father. As he swung onto Hedonin he called back to his father,
"Do not worry ada; I'll bring them back in one piece"
"Exactly what are you implying" Elladan asked
"Yeah" Elrohir joined in,
"You make it sound as if you don't trust us"
Elrond just shook his head and turned back to the house, listening to the fading sounds of Estel calling for help as he brothers raced after him, finally realising what their younger brother had been saying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Er, Aragorn I think you..."
"Shut up"
"I'm just saying that you..."
"I said shut up"
"I think all that Legolas is trying to say is..."
"SHUT UP"
2 minutes later
"Er, Estel"
"Yeah"
"You missed"
The four friends were hunting for there dinner after having finally agreed on an appropriate place to camp after visiting four very similar, if not exactly the same, glens.
*Flashback*
"So" Elladan said, stepping out from the cover of the surrounding trees,
"How about here"
"Nah" Aragorn said.
"And pray tell why not brother"
"Too much shade"
2 minutes later
"This place seems nice" Elladan tried again
"Nah" Legolas spoke this time.
"Why not?"
"Not enough shade"
4 minutes later
"How 'bout here, it's perfect" Elladan was becoming annoyed.
"Nah" It was now Elrohir's turn to contradict with the glade.
"What's it this time?"
"Something's wrong"
"What?"
"The grass is too long"
"Now you mention it" Legolas joined in,
"That boulders a bit to far from the tree"
"I give up" Elladan exclaimed.
3 minutes later
"This place seems ok" Legolas said looking around
"Nah" surprisingly it was Elladan who spoke.
"Why?"
"It lives here"
"Who?"
"It"
Looking over at Elrohir, Legolas and Estel both gave him questioning looks.
"He's talking about Usquener"
"Smelly one?"
"It was his pet rabbit, but he let him ago after it bit him"
"He called it smelly one?"
"He was only 100"
They looked back at Elladan who was slowly edging away from the clearing.
*End flashback*
It had still taken a while for them all to agree on their current campsite though as both Legolas and Elrohir had to spend a few minutes measuring the height of the grass and the distances between the rocks and trees.
Estel also had to tie back a couple of branches which he claimed were blocking the sunlight. Even Elladan had made a thorough search of the area, making sure that 'it' didn't have a second home here.
As they walked back to their chosen campsite-Estel still muttering about his miss- the three elves began to sense something that put them at unease. Even Aragorn who didn't have the elven senses began to feel something as well as they got closer and closer to glade.
But although the feeling didn't go away during the evening, nothing awful happened so the four went to bed relatively relaxed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was 2 hours past midnight, or so Legolas guessed, gazing up at the moon, his eyes never straying far from Eàrendil, the evening star. Although his turn as watchman had officially ended almost an hour ago, he made no move to wake the human to take over, preferring to sit there under the clear night sky.
He sighed as he rested his hands gently on his beautiful bow, resting across his knee. His grip tightened as he heard a twig snap in the undergrowth to his right. Standing up he brought his prized weapon to his shoulder. He walked slowly but silently, never taking his eyes off the spot where the sound had come from.
As he concentrated he almost missed the slight rustle from behind him. Almost. He whipped round and fired a single shot into the dense trees. As the arrow disappeared he heard someone exclaim in pain, although the arrow didn't actually seem to have killed him.
But that cry was enough to cause Legolas to shout a warning, waking the camp, and making them aware of the new threat. Not waiting for them to join in he leapt straight into battle, firing at a dark shadow that tried to slip unnoticed through the trees.
Realising that they had been spotted, a least a dozen men materialised from the surrounding trees and began fighting, some even dropping down from the over hanging branches. Estel obviously hadn't done a very good job of tying them back.
Legolas soon found himself surrounded and dropped his bow, preferring to use his daggers with the enemy so close. But it was to no avail. Even with the three brothers help the four friends were soon over powered.
The stranger holding on to Aragorn whispered harshly into his ear.
"Where is he?"
"Who?" Aragorn had no idea who this man was, let alone who he was taking about.
At least half a dozen or so touches flared up at that moment, giving the captives a clear view of the now destroyed campsite, and their captors. It didn't take Aragorn long to recognise three of the men holding his friends. He searched his memory for the names and upon finding them ground them out through his teeth.
"Limidon, Neonatal and Tongil"
"Ah" the one called Limidon spoke
"It's so lovely to be remembered. And I suppose you'll remember Souldil as well. Only he doesn't appear to be here, can you tell me why" The hunter tightened his grip around Legolas's throat, almost cutting off his air supply.
Aragorn could remember why. These were the hunters who had rescued himself, Elladan and Legolas form a group of orcs, only to try and sell them as slaves. Elrohir, with the help of Taradin and Garith, had managed to save them. Taradin had killed Souldil when said hunter had tried to murder Garith, Taradin's adopted son.
The ranger could see only too clearly that these men wanted revenge. As Limidon had been speaking, Legolas's attention had been caught by a solitary figure standing slightly in the shadows. The hunter had suddenly locked eyes with the elf, who barely had time to return the glare before his thoughts were redirected to his former captor attempting to strangle him.
As Limidon finished speaking the man stepped forward, revealing his dark features. His eyes were cold as he surveyed the man kneeling down on the floor, the two identical elves struggling fiercely with their own captors, and the fair haired elf who had caught his attention from the beginning. He was going to be a hard one to tame.
As everyone turned to face him he had the sudden urge to introduce himself.
"I am Doulgil, Souldil's brother. You are the ones who heartlessly murdered him and I plan to get my revenge"
"I would like to point out" Aragorn spoke up from his position on the ground
"That none who are here actually killed your brother, and the one that did only did so to save his son who Souldil was about murder."
Unfortunately for Aragorn the only response he received from this speech was a rough hand across his cheek from Doulgil who had stalked across the wrecked camp as Aragorn has first begun to speak.
"How dare you speak about him like that you worthless whelp. You were there, you could have stopped Souldil's murder but you didn't."
Aragorn decided against telling the man that he couldn't have helped Souldil even if he wanted to due to the fact that at the time he could barely even walk due to the beatings the orcs had given him, and Souldil hadn't exactly helped with that either.
At a sign from Doulgil, Aragorn's arms were tied roughly behind his back, as were Legolas's, Elladan's and Elrohir's. Walking over to the dead fire he re-lit and supplied it with enough wood to last the night.
His men took the liberty of tying the four captives to nearby trees. As he lay tied there, Aragorn glanced up at the sky, finally noticing the thunder clouds that had gathered during the fight.
He cursed silently as the first drops of rain began to fall. Why did they have to place him under one of the trees who branches he had tied up. In fact, if he didn't know any better he would say that the trees were even pulling what little shelter they did provide away from the ranger, as in resentment to him for pulling their graceful limbs back in the first place.
As the group of hunters pulled closer to the fire, Aragorn shivered before falling into a restless, dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aragorn cursed again as he stumbled once more, only just catching his feet. Apparently Doulgil had believed Aragorn when he had denied any of his group to the murder of his brother, and they were now setting of to the town of Frisdan where Souldil had died.
The sons of Elrond and Legolas had been tied to the saddles of various horses and were being expected t keep up with the swift trot. For Legolas and the twins this really was not much of a problem, but to Aragorn who was only human and did not have the elves endurance or balance, it was becoming this increasingly difficult.
Looking to his side he saw his brothers easily running behind the horse and Legolas keeping up with just as much ease.
//It's alright for them\\ he thought grumpily //there elves, they can handle this\\ unfortunately his lapse in attention caused him to trip over a larger rock and as he fell forward he screwed his eyes shut, prepared for the impact of his face to the stony ground.
But that never came. He felt strong hands grasp him under the armpits and pull him up right again. He opened his eyes quickly and looked round at the grinning face of his best friend, who obviously delighted in seeing his surprised expressions.
The ranger decided to ignore it though and muttered his thanks, trying not to let his friend or brothers see his bright red face. Legolas just smiled all the more, easily guessing the reason of the ranger's sudden interest in the ground.
A sharp tug on the rope around his neck reminded the prince of the fact that he was tied to the horse and that his captor wasn't to pleased with him for the helping the human. Glaring up into the black depths of Dougil's eyes he couldn't help an inward shudder. He wondered what had happened to make those eyes so lifeless, it surely couldn't have just been the death of his brother. But if it was... He shuddered again; it would take a lot to satisfy the hunger in those black eyes, perhaps even death...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TO BE CONTINUED
P.S don't forget to review
"Now, this story happened when Estel had first come to Rivendell. He had only been here for about 2 months and Elladan and Elrohir were spending every free minute with him."
"On this particular day they had finally managed to convince me to allow them to take him out into the grounds by themselves, without either myself, Glorfindel or Celeboril with them."
"If only I had known what a mistake that was."
*Flashback*
"Thank you Father. We will take great care of him."
"Yeah and I'll make sure Elrohir doesn't drop him again"
"You dropped him?" Elrond asked incredulously
*End flashback*
"You dropped me?" Estel asked incredulously.
*Flashback*
"No. Anyway, it was an accident."
Elladan just shook his head at his brother and picked his baby brother up before Elrond could change his mind.
As the two ran off Elrond smiled. It was wonderful having a child back in the house. Somehow he knew Estel was going to change the House of Elrond for the better.
As the twins neared the wood, they stopped and sat down, carefully placing their brother on the ground next to them. They smiled softly as Estel threw the grass in the air, laughing in delight as it rained back down on him.
Turning back to his twin, Elladan asked.
"Where should we go?"
"I don't know, ada said to stay away from the woods. We could lose Estel in a matter of seconds in there. Hm, I wonder how long it would take."
"Er, I think you're about to find out."
"What?"
While his brothers had been talking, Estel had crawled off, thrilled at the chance to escape his overprotective brothers.
*End Flashback*
"You lost me as well?" Estel couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"Is there anything else you would like to tell me?"
"Well there was that time we left you outside during a thunderstorm."
"Oh yeah, and the time we took you fishing and you fell in the lake."
"And what about the time..."
"Excuse me, but you were supposed to be looking after me, not trying to kill me."
Everyone had begun to giggle at the outburst from the irritated ranger so it was several minutes before Elrond was able to regain his composure and continue with his story.
*Flashback*
The twins raced towards the woods, calling frantically for their human brother, heedlessly ruining all tracks of the small creature that was currently heading for Rivendell.
*End flashback*
"And you call your self's trackers"
*Flashback*
Elladan and Elrohir spent all day searching for Estel, not once thinking to ask for help or even considering the possibility that Estel hadn't actually gone into the woods.
When they finally reached the house both voices were hoarse from calling for there brother, they were exhausted from searching, and were dreading the thought of facing there father.
As they dragged themselves nearer and nearer to Lord Elrond's study they realised how hungry they were and quickly found that they preferred the thought of food to telling there father that they had lost Estel.
* End flashback*
"Wait, are you telling me that I was lost and all you could think about was eating"
"Something like that yeah"
"I can't believe you. I could have been lying dead, being eaten by a pack of wargs, and all the while you would have been stuffing your faces full of honey cakes from Beornings and..."
Estel stopped as he realised that he was now standing up and the whole hall was watching. Blushing a deep red he sat down and Elrond once more began his story, starting from where he had left off.
*Flashback*
As the entered the vast kitchens they found that it was empty, the kitchen staff having been on a break. Deciding that they could easily get some food them selves, they finally found the plates after only 20 minutes of searching.
As Elrohir picked up a large saucepan, he yelled in shock, almost dropping the pot as he did so.
"What is it?" Elladan exclaimed, rushing over to see if his brother needed help.
Upon reaching his twin he did the exact opposite to Elrohir's reaction and sighed in relief. Curled up and fast asleep was their baby brother, gently sucking his thumb.
As Elladan reached down to retrieve Estel, they heard two elves enter the kitchen. Lord Elrond and Lord Glorfindel to be exact. Crouching down, the twins tried to hide, not wanting to explain why there brother was in a saucepan, once again not doing the most obvious thing and lifting Estel out.
As they hid, they couldn't help but over hear the two elf lord's conversation.
*End Flashback*
"Although I'm sure you could have tried" Glorfindel muttered under his breath, before taking over the next part of the tale, knowing that this wasn't exactly Elrond's favourite part.
*Flashback*
"Keep looking, those cakes have to be some where." Elrond's voice was slightly muffled due to the fact that his head was stuck in a rather large cupboard.
"They had better be worth all this" Glorfindel muttered back.
"Believe me they are. Beornings are famous for there honey cakes"
"Tell me again why you can't just ask Celeboril for them."
"Er...yeah... well you see... last time we were sent the cakes I kind of er... ate them all before the dinner party we had er... ordered them for and er... Celeboril wasn't particularly please. Or the guests for that matter."
Elrond glared at his friend as he began to laugh.
"So I take it that he now hides them whenever they come."
"Yes" Elrond replied grumpily.
"Aha" he cried suddenly, his mood changing immediately,
"I've found them."
At this the twins adopted identically wicked grins and stood up, momentarily forgetting about the sleeping human.
"Naughty, naughty father. We can't have you stealing. It will be setting a dreadful example to the young ones"
As Elrohir spoke, Elladan walked over to the guilty elf lord and took the tin of honey cakes from his father.
Elrond stared at his twin sons for a second before quickly snatching the box back and leaping on to one of the kitchen tables, easily out of reach of his eldest son. Holding them high above his head he cried,
"You can't have them. There mine, all mine so ther..."
He was cut short as Elladan jumped up next to his father and tried to re- take the cakes.
"Noooooooooo" Elrond yelled before bounding away, diving from table to table, still closely followed by Elladan.
Glorfindel stared in amazement at his normally dignified friend. He couldn't help laughing as the oldest twin hurled himself at the elf lord, successful bringing him down and tried to wrestle the now rather bashed cakes from his father's tight grip.
"Give... them... to... me..." he grunted, pulling at the tin, while trying at the same time to escape his father's head lock.
He had almost got them when a pair of strong hands suddenly reached down and wrenched them from both the elves grasp.
"Explain"
Just this one question was enough to send both father and son scrambling to their feet. They stared guiltily at the floor as Celeboril's hard gaze fell on them.
"Explain" the servant and Elrond's life long friend demanded again.
"Er... well you see... I was hungry and...well..." Celeboril had never seen his lord look guilty. He almost burst out laughing but managed to control himself and settled with a glare.
"Now, can you tell me what would be the punishment if one of the elflings tried to raid the kitchen?"
"Subin da foo" was Elrond's mumbled response.
"Pardon"
"Scrubbing the floor" was the now louder answer.
"Exactly" Celeboril gave the elf lords a quick smile before handed each a mop and broom.
"Now get started."
Now was Elrond's turn to be amazed. Never in all the years that he had known him had Celeboril ever been this strict. Elrond was about to comment on this, but took one look at his servants face and began wiping.
However little it may show, Elrond knew what Celeboril's temper could be like when he was really angry, and he has had the exact same look on his face as he had now when Elrond had 'accidentally' told a certain elf maiden that his friend was in love with her.
Elrond had hid in his room for almost two weeks after running round the house several times with a certain enraged elf close behind the whole time. He shuddered at the memory.
*End flashback*
"Celeboril actually had you scrubbing the kitchen floor" Estel was now howling in laughter.
"Yes I did" a new voice made them all look up into the broadly grinning servant.
"I brought you all some honey cakes from Beo..." he was cut off as the large tin was grabbed from his hands by a certain lord, who soon disappeared under a tide of elves, knowing fully well about Elrond's craze. How could anyone not after hearing ther story so far.
When all the cakes had finally been disposed of Elrond took over from his friend and continued the story.
*Flashback*
As Elrond scrubbed moodily at the now nearly spotless floor, he stopped, suddenly realising something. Turning back to his sons who were eating over at one of the numerous tables, he said
"Pray tell what it was that brought you two to the kitchen."
"Oh, we were just hungry."
"Ah yes, but if you were only searching for food then you wouldn't have hid."
The twins didn't even have time to feel guilty as they realised that they had left Estel in the big pot.
To the astonishment of there father, the twins began searching for the saucepan, eventually coming across it only to find that once again there brother was missing.
*End flashback*
"I can't believe it. You lost me AGAIN"
*Flashback*
It was then the elf lord also realised that he had last seen his youngest son in the custody of the two very guilty looking elflings in front of him.
"Where is it" Elrond demanded.
*End flashback*
"Oh, so I was an it back then was I?"
*Flashback*
"Um, his right here ada." Elrohir reached behind him and grabbed the nearest thing, which happened to be a sack of flour. He quickly wrapped his cloak around it to disguise it from his father and began edging towards the door.
"Well we've better go hadn't we Elladan? Goodbye father"
"Oh Elrohir" Elrond called as they reached the door.
"Estel seems to be leaking flour. You may want to get that fixed as I'm not sure that babies are supposed to do that."
The twins groaned silently as they left the kitchen. Well at least father knew now, and they hadn't even been told off.
"Oh yes, you can expect your punishment to night, when you have FOUND Estel."
*End Flashback*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Estel drew a neatly folded tunic from his draw and stuffed it hurriedly into his pack, yelping as he pricked a finger on the comb which seldom left the bag. As he slung the pack over his shoulder he could hear his brothers yelling to him to hurry up and Legolas politely pointing out that the woods became rather dangerous at night and he would like to have made camp before the wargs came.
Estel ignored the cheers that greeted him when he finally exited the House of Elrond and went to say goodbye to his father. As he swung onto Hedonin he called back to his father,
"Do not worry ada; I'll bring them back in one piece"
"Exactly what are you implying" Elladan asked
"Yeah" Elrohir joined in,
"You make it sound as if you don't trust us"
Elrond just shook his head and turned back to the house, listening to the fading sounds of Estel calling for help as he brothers raced after him, finally realising what their younger brother had been saying.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Er, Aragorn I think you..."
"Shut up"
"I'm just saying that you..."
"I said shut up"
"I think all that Legolas is trying to say is..."
"SHUT UP"
2 minutes later
"Er, Estel"
"Yeah"
"You missed"
The four friends were hunting for there dinner after having finally agreed on an appropriate place to camp after visiting four very similar, if not exactly the same, glens.
*Flashback*
"So" Elladan said, stepping out from the cover of the surrounding trees,
"How about here"
"Nah" Aragorn said.
"And pray tell why not brother"
"Too much shade"
2 minutes later
"This place seems nice" Elladan tried again
"Nah" Legolas spoke this time.
"Why not?"
"Not enough shade"
4 minutes later
"How 'bout here, it's perfect" Elladan was becoming annoyed.
"Nah" It was now Elrohir's turn to contradict with the glade.
"What's it this time?"
"Something's wrong"
"What?"
"The grass is too long"
"Now you mention it" Legolas joined in,
"That boulders a bit to far from the tree"
"I give up" Elladan exclaimed.
3 minutes later
"This place seems ok" Legolas said looking around
"Nah" surprisingly it was Elladan who spoke.
"Why?"
"It lives here"
"Who?"
"It"
Looking over at Elrohir, Legolas and Estel both gave him questioning looks.
"He's talking about Usquener"
"Smelly one?"
"It was his pet rabbit, but he let him ago after it bit him"
"He called it smelly one?"
"He was only 100"
They looked back at Elladan who was slowly edging away from the clearing.
*End flashback*
It had still taken a while for them all to agree on their current campsite though as both Legolas and Elrohir had to spend a few minutes measuring the height of the grass and the distances between the rocks and trees.
Estel also had to tie back a couple of branches which he claimed were blocking the sunlight. Even Elladan had made a thorough search of the area, making sure that 'it' didn't have a second home here.
As they walked back to their chosen campsite-Estel still muttering about his miss- the three elves began to sense something that put them at unease. Even Aragorn who didn't have the elven senses began to feel something as well as they got closer and closer to glade.
But although the feeling didn't go away during the evening, nothing awful happened so the four went to bed relatively relaxed.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was 2 hours past midnight, or so Legolas guessed, gazing up at the moon, his eyes never straying far from Eàrendil, the evening star. Although his turn as watchman had officially ended almost an hour ago, he made no move to wake the human to take over, preferring to sit there under the clear night sky.
He sighed as he rested his hands gently on his beautiful bow, resting across his knee. His grip tightened as he heard a twig snap in the undergrowth to his right. Standing up he brought his prized weapon to his shoulder. He walked slowly but silently, never taking his eyes off the spot where the sound had come from.
As he concentrated he almost missed the slight rustle from behind him. Almost. He whipped round and fired a single shot into the dense trees. As the arrow disappeared he heard someone exclaim in pain, although the arrow didn't actually seem to have killed him.
But that cry was enough to cause Legolas to shout a warning, waking the camp, and making them aware of the new threat. Not waiting for them to join in he leapt straight into battle, firing at a dark shadow that tried to slip unnoticed through the trees.
Realising that they had been spotted, a least a dozen men materialised from the surrounding trees and began fighting, some even dropping down from the over hanging branches. Estel obviously hadn't done a very good job of tying them back.
Legolas soon found himself surrounded and dropped his bow, preferring to use his daggers with the enemy so close. But it was to no avail. Even with the three brothers help the four friends were soon over powered.
The stranger holding on to Aragorn whispered harshly into his ear.
"Where is he?"
"Who?" Aragorn had no idea who this man was, let alone who he was taking about.
At least half a dozen or so touches flared up at that moment, giving the captives a clear view of the now destroyed campsite, and their captors. It didn't take Aragorn long to recognise three of the men holding his friends. He searched his memory for the names and upon finding them ground them out through his teeth.
"Limidon, Neonatal and Tongil"
"Ah" the one called Limidon spoke
"It's so lovely to be remembered. And I suppose you'll remember Souldil as well. Only he doesn't appear to be here, can you tell me why" The hunter tightened his grip around Legolas's throat, almost cutting off his air supply.
Aragorn could remember why. These were the hunters who had rescued himself, Elladan and Legolas form a group of orcs, only to try and sell them as slaves. Elrohir, with the help of Taradin and Garith, had managed to save them. Taradin had killed Souldil when said hunter had tried to murder Garith, Taradin's adopted son.
The ranger could see only too clearly that these men wanted revenge. As Limidon had been speaking, Legolas's attention had been caught by a solitary figure standing slightly in the shadows. The hunter had suddenly locked eyes with the elf, who barely had time to return the glare before his thoughts were redirected to his former captor attempting to strangle him.
As Limidon finished speaking the man stepped forward, revealing his dark features. His eyes were cold as he surveyed the man kneeling down on the floor, the two identical elves struggling fiercely with their own captors, and the fair haired elf who had caught his attention from the beginning. He was going to be a hard one to tame.
As everyone turned to face him he had the sudden urge to introduce himself.
"I am Doulgil, Souldil's brother. You are the ones who heartlessly murdered him and I plan to get my revenge"
"I would like to point out" Aragorn spoke up from his position on the ground
"That none who are here actually killed your brother, and the one that did only did so to save his son who Souldil was about murder."
Unfortunately for Aragorn the only response he received from this speech was a rough hand across his cheek from Doulgil who had stalked across the wrecked camp as Aragorn has first begun to speak.
"How dare you speak about him like that you worthless whelp. You were there, you could have stopped Souldil's murder but you didn't."
Aragorn decided against telling the man that he couldn't have helped Souldil even if he wanted to due to the fact that at the time he could barely even walk due to the beatings the orcs had given him, and Souldil hadn't exactly helped with that either.
At a sign from Doulgil, Aragorn's arms were tied roughly behind his back, as were Legolas's, Elladan's and Elrohir's. Walking over to the dead fire he re-lit and supplied it with enough wood to last the night.
His men took the liberty of tying the four captives to nearby trees. As he lay tied there, Aragorn glanced up at the sky, finally noticing the thunder clouds that had gathered during the fight.
He cursed silently as the first drops of rain began to fall. Why did they have to place him under one of the trees who branches he had tied up. In fact, if he didn't know any better he would say that the trees were even pulling what little shelter they did provide away from the ranger, as in resentment to him for pulling their graceful limbs back in the first place.
As the group of hunters pulled closer to the fire, Aragorn shivered before falling into a restless, dreamless sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aragorn cursed again as he stumbled once more, only just catching his feet. Apparently Doulgil had believed Aragorn when he had denied any of his group to the murder of his brother, and they were now setting of to the town of Frisdan where Souldil had died.
The sons of Elrond and Legolas had been tied to the saddles of various horses and were being expected t keep up with the swift trot. For Legolas and the twins this really was not much of a problem, but to Aragorn who was only human and did not have the elves endurance or balance, it was becoming this increasingly difficult.
Looking to his side he saw his brothers easily running behind the horse and Legolas keeping up with just as much ease.
//It's alright for them\\ he thought grumpily //there elves, they can handle this\\ unfortunately his lapse in attention caused him to trip over a larger rock and as he fell forward he screwed his eyes shut, prepared for the impact of his face to the stony ground.
But that never came. He felt strong hands grasp him under the armpits and pull him up right again. He opened his eyes quickly and looked round at the grinning face of his best friend, who obviously delighted in seeing his surprised expressions.
The ranger decided to ignore it though and muttered his thanks, trying not to let his friend or brothers see his bright red face. Legolas just smiled all the more, easily guessing the reason of the ranger's sudden interest in the ground.
A sharp tug on the rope around his neck reminded the prince of the fact that he was tied to the horse and that his captor wasn't to pleased with him for the helping the human. Glaring up into the black depths of Dougil's eyes he couldn't help an inward shudder. He wondered what had happened to make those eyes so lifeless, it surely couldn't have just been the death of his brother. But if it was... He shuddered again; it would take a lot to satisfy the hunger in those black eyes, perhaps even death...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TO BE CONTINUED
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